Culinary Adventures with Camilla

September is Hunger Action Month. – a time to bring attention to food insecurity. According to the US Department of Agriculture, 1 in 8 Americans were food insecure in 2017. That’s 40 million people – more than 12 million of which are children – with a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. And Kate of Kate's Recipe Box levied a challenge to some blogging friends. The Challenge: "Create a meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) to feed 4 people while spending $5.50 or less (total, not per person). (A family of 4 receives roughly $16.60/day - which split evenly comes out to $5.53 per meal.)" This event is meant to acknowledge the difficulty of feeding a family on a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) budget and highlight organizations that help reduce hunger in our own communities. Kate suggested shopping discount stores, utilizing bulk bins for just the amount you need, and using coupons are all great techniques for this challen...

Next month several bloggers are tackling the challenge of creating nutritious meals that stay within the budgetary constraints of what a family of four receives on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) which is $5.53 or $16.60 for the day. Yes, really. Challenge accepted.  For my first attempt at the challenge, I eschewed my usual grocery stop and headed to our local Grocery Outlet. There are good options there, including organic produce but it's not a consistent inventory. So I never know what I'm going to find. But, if you hunt, it's not bad...and it's a highly affordable option. I picked up ingredients to make a tuna pasta and roasted Brussels sprouts. The grocery bill was $5.66. And while I did add half of an onion, olive oil, salt, and pepper from my pantry and fridge, I went with serving sizes and only used half of the pasta package and half of the jarred sauce - which I will use for another meal. Plus we had enough leftover that my ...

Earlier this week a friend of mine posted a challenge: "Dinner for 4 to 6 people for $15. What do you make?" I thought: $15 for a homemade dinner of 4 is pretty generous. $10 gets a little skimpy, but $15 is reasonable. I suggested... Pasta. Onions $1.00; ground beef $8.00 if you go organic + grassfed or as low as $5 if you don't; pasta $2.50, fresh tomatoes $4.00, olive oil (pantry); salad greens $2.00; dressing (fridge); parmesan cheese (fridge). $14.50 is you don't go organic, grassfed beef. Over budget if you do! Roasted chicken thighs are always easy. Chicken thighs (bone in, skin on) 2 pounds $8.00; soy sauce, olive oil, spices (pantry/fridge); rice $2.00; $5 for veggies - zucchini, broccoli, etc. Roasted pork tenderloin: pork $10.00; olive oil, spices (pantry); potatoes $3.00; salad greens $2.00; dressing (fridge). Then I decided to put the theory to a test. For dinner that night, I made... Leftover pork, $5.00 (1/3 of roast that cost me $15); quin...